3022: Making Tea

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Making Tea

Title text: No, of course we don't microwave the mug WITH the teabag in it. We microwave the teabag separately.

Explanation

Tea is exceptionally popular in the United Kingdom (although decreasingly so, and not as serious a business as in Japan and China). Electric kettles are a standard appliance in British homes (used to boil water for tea, coffee, soup powders, instant mash, etc) and teapots and other related crockery can be found in many cupboards, or even on a shelf in full display, whether or not regularly used. British people are perceived as taking tea seriously, having very specific and strongly held opinions on the proper way to make tea. In contrast, tea (especially hot tea) is less commonplace in the United States of America (Randall's native country), and few people are particularly serious about it. Coffee is a much more common hot beverage, and both homes and offices are far more likely to have automatic coffee makers than electric kettles. While some US households have kettles that can be put on a stove top, many do not have any specific device to boil water. As a result, when Americans need a cup of hot water — for tea or otherwise — the options are usually to use a pan on the stove, or to simply microwave a mug of water (the latter probably being more common in modern times).

British people are stereotyped as taking genuine offense to microwaved water, believing it to be an objectively incorrect way to make tea. Randall mocks this stereotype through exaggeration, saying British people would be significantly less offended by someone stealing the Crown Jewels and using those for tea-making than they would be by tea made with a cup of microwaved water.

Methods mentioned

Making it in a kettle

Perhaps an intentional misnomer. Water may be boiled in a kettle, but the tea itself is made in a separate teapot, with loose or bagged tea-leaves, ready for pouring into any number of teacups, mugs or thermos flask as required. Making tea actually in the kettle, by placing the tea in with the water and then boiling it, would be considered very bad form and render the kettle less useful for its other purposes (and likely void your warranty). Boiling the water in a kettle is standard practice (occasionally a potable water geyser or similar may be available), leaving the tea-making process to occur in the teapot (as above) or the drinking vessel (as below).

Boiling water in a pot, steeping in a mug

Identical to the basic boiling process above, except using a pot (commonly called a 'saucepan' in the UK) on the stove, rather than a kettle. This is slightly less convenient than using a kettle (since pans generally lack a dedicated spout for pouring and a whistle to signal when the water boils), but is otherwise functionally identical. Nonetheless, the comic notes that Brits would take mild offense, considering it to be inferior to using a kettle.

To confuse matters, British people would normally take 'pot' (in the specific context of tea-making) to be short for 'teapot'. However, a ceramic teapot should never be directly heated in the manner of a pan or a kettle. It should be filled with freshly boiled water, ideally after an initial small splash of hot water is swirled around it to warm the teapot to prevent cracking and then the requisite number of teabags (or quantity of tealeaves) dropped in.

Making it in a chalice and ampulla stolen from the Crown Jewels

A chalice is an ornate type of cup; an ampulla is a type of flask or bottle. Both are typically now terms used in relation to objects used in ritual. Randall is likely drawing a parallel here with the ritualism and particularity with which some people surround the making of tea and its associated artefacts.

The Crown Jewels are a set of items belonging to the British monarchy, including ceremonial items and clothing using in royal coronations. These items have both major cultural significance, due to their historical connection with the monarchy, and major objective value, as many of them are heavily jeweled and/or made of precious metals. To steal items from this collection for the purpose of tea-making would obviously be both highly criminal and highly disrespectful. The ampulla referenced is used to anoint the monarch with oil during the coronation ceremony and the chalice may refer to a Communion vessel, giving them religious significance as well.

More importantly for many, though, this would be incorrect tea-ware. The gold or silver chalices and gold ampulla are doubtful as being of suitable materials for British tea-making (as opposed to using cast iron, stainless steel, silver-plate, robust ceramics and/or fine china, for various stages of the process) and there'd definitely be some complaints that it does not taste like a proper cuppa (particularly if oil residue from the ampulla has made its way into the tea). To use such objects to make tea would simply not be cricket.

The suggestion that this method is less angering than microwaving a mug emphasizes the British hate for microwaving.

Microwaving a mug

As mentioned above, heating water in a microwave, for any purpose, is considered acceptable and common in the US. To do so to make tea is considered uncommon and borderline heretical in the UK. The reasons for this are difficult to pin down. Some argue that the microwave doesn't allow proper control over the water temperature (which is considered vital for proper tea-making), or doesn't easily allow the water to come to a full boil. Others raise the danger of superheating water which might boil over when the tea bag is added. Some people even argue that microwaving changes the quality or composition of the water in some way. The validity of these theories varies, but it's unlikely that any of them has enough objective basis to justify serious antipathy towards the method.

Another disputed theory for the difference in approach surrounds convenience. Electric kettles and microwaves are both highly efficient methods of heating water with electricity, but electric kettles in the UK tend to draw significantly more power than either US kettles or microwaves (due, in part, to higher main voltage in the UK grid). As a result, UK kettles can heat an equivalent volume of water significantly faster than can microwaves. When making a single cup, the difference is unlikely to be significant, but when making tea for a whole family, or for guests (as is much more common in the UK), using a microwave would be much less convenient.

Ultimately, though, the difference probably comes down to an accident of culture. Most likely, the preparation of tea simply has a sense of tradition and ritual in Britain, and using a microwave feels crass, modern, and completely disconnected from the cultural associations of tea.

The title text continues with this theme, by reassuring us that the microwaved mug doesn't have a teabag in it (analogous to the 'boiling tea-kettle' version). It then strays into farce, though, by suggesting it is separately microwaved. In reality there is no obvious reason to microwave a teabag: Microwave ovens heat water molecules almost exclusively, and tealeaves (and bag) should be dry before use, with no water molecules to heat. The wrongheadedness of this claim does little but provoke a skeptic's doubts about how utterly perverse this colonial variation on tea-making has become.

Other tea controversies

Other sources of controversy in the correct way to make tea are not covered in the comic, or hidden behind the other 'obvious errors'. Perhaps primary among these is the question of the difference between making (and steeping) the tea in a teapot and pouring the water over a teabag in a mug.

The former tends to be a more formal method, to serve in polite company, or from the traditional need to prepare a large volume of tea for an indeterminate number of recipients and refills, such as in a canteen/cafeteria situation, where the 'pot' stays hot for almost as long as the supply lasts. A prepared teapot of tea allows a fairly consistent 'brew' that is readily poured out into teacups (or mugs) as and when required, and can be readily topped up if an increase in the supply is needed.

The latter method relies upon individual teabags or loose-leaf tea in an individual infuser, and lets each recipient leave the tea in for as long as they personally prefer (or end up having to), which reflects more individual flexibility. Again, this splits between 'high' and 'low' class use. The infamous "builders' tea" often has the teabag left in for a long time (even during drinking), with plenty of milk and sugar, to perhaps produce an increasingly dense brew as the workman concerned takes opportune sips as he (usually) can during his work. Conversely, the trend in more stylish restaurants and tearooms tends to be to supply each customer their teacup together with an individual small vessel of freshly boiled water (rarely more than one or two cups-worth) and the recipient's choices of bagged tea (including fruit/herbal) and additions (milk, or equivalent, lemon, etc, plus sweeteners of all kinds), letting them prepare their own infusion exactly in their own way; this is often presented with an air of 'continental sophistication', but may bemuse and confuse the more down-to-Earth British tea-drinker used to their home method, as does the choice of dozens of fancy coffees from a barista when they'd be happy enough with a decent "instant coffee".

The issue of whether the milk (not obligatory, but decisively traditional) should be put in before the tea (or teabag!) is also often considered Serious Business...

In January of 2024, Michelle Francl, Ph.D., a chemistry professor at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, suggested putting a pinch of salt into tea, saying that the sodium in salt blocks the bitter taste of tea. This prompted a great outcry by The Guardian and a statement by the US embassy on X (Twitter): “Today's media reports of an American Professor's recipe for the 'perfect' cup of tea has landed our special bond with the United Kingdom in hot water … We want to ensure[sic] the good people of the U.K. that the unthinkable notion of adding salt to Britain's national drink is not official United States Policy. And never will be. ... The US embassy will continue to make tea in the proper way – by microwaving it."

Transcript

[A line chart is shown. Above the chart are, from top to bottom, a heading, a subheading, and an arrow pointing right with a label above. On the line there are four labeled tick marks, with the labels written beneath the line. A small curved line is going from each label to below their tick. The first two ticks are close together on the far left side of the graph, the third is approximately in the center, and the fourth is on the far right side of the graph.]

Ways of making tea

By how angry British people get when Americans do them

More angry

Making it in a kettle

Boiling water in a pot, steeping in a mug

Making it in a chalice and ampulla stolen from the Crown Jewels

Microwaving a mug

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Discussion

I wonder where making it in Boston Harbor, at ambient temperature, at scale would fit on this scale. 172.70.206.162 04:38, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

A little to the left of the microwave thing. 162.158.186.252 05:14, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Oh, no, much further to the right. You stole our colony from us, set up some tinpot, pretended 'country' in its place, and you didn't even have the class to make a decent cup of tea first. 12.68.205.93 06:24, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

And, even if this guy is right, way too much salt... 172.70.91.130 07:03, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Soyuz nyerushimyy respublik svobodnik... DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 14:13, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Well maybe if you didnt force us to buy discounted tea from you after fighting a war for us, we wouldn't be in this situation. Apollo11 (talk) 15:43, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Yeah, a tiny island should not have that much control over a fractionable part of a continent Danger Kitty (talk)

EXACTLY, it's not like you funded the voyages, sent supplies to the colonies, or protected us from the French, or anything. Apollo11 (talk) 14:59, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

I would like to as a british person to corroborate this, in the 80's my Dad visited the USA (he did go to florida) and still is complaining that the freshly boiled water wasn't poured directly onto the tea bag but was instead the tea bag and the hot water(now luke warm water) and bag was delivered separately!!! The delivery of freshly boiling water on to the bag is the major issue with microwaves, not the nucleation thing in my experience. Bear in mind I don't even actually like tea, still care enough to right this, but i'll be signing this anonymously to avoid shame being bought on my family and my family's familys. Murderous royals are a lot less popular the tea 108.162.245.227

Thanks for pointing out that black tea leaves need boiling-hot water to release their full aroma, so you'll need that, unless you're fine with an insipid brew. That's not "hard to pin down", it's a property of this type of tea leaf, as you can read here https://jingtea.com/journal/boiling-water-for-tea-myth-debunked. This super biased explanation needs correction, preferably by someone who knows about flavour extraction, chemistry, etc. Transgalactic (talk) 12:31, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

I first visited the US in 1980. A friend who was with hate coffee and was horrified when he ordered tea that he got the water and the tea bag separately. When he suggested they add the water as soon as it was boiled, the wait staff thought he was joking. Many years later in Texas, a waiter asked me why I, a Brit, was drinking coffee, not tea. "You don't know how to make it," I replied. (In my house, the electric kettle and teapot sit next to each other on the kitchen worktop.)--172.70.160.135 09:22, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

When I make ramen, I put the measuring cup in the microwave. Fight me. 162.158.167.87 05:35, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

On behalf of the British Empire: whateva. Kev (talk) 18:28, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

"...to the point virtually every home has an electric tea kettle as a standard appliance". If I'm reading it correctly, this and the comic suggests we (though not I, as I'm not a tea-drinker) make tea in the electric kettle. Electric tea-urns, yes, or maybe a setup like a samovar. But, generally, the kettle itself (and, so far as I'm aware, always with an electric kettle) is used to heat the water, which you then pour into the teapot into which the requisite number of tealeaves/teabags are also put to steep. (Or, for the lazy way, into the mug-with-teabag.) I wouldn't be able to use my electric kettle to (for example) make my instant mashed-potato into the actual mash, if I'd have regularly used it to mash tea. Or top up the boiling saucepan that I'd realised I'd not quite enough water in to cover the pasta/vegetables/whatever. Or to easily add nust a little more heat (with less new water) to the washing-up bowl than would be possible from the hot tap, back to as hot as possible without scalding me. – Whether intentional or not, I suspect Randall has the role of kettle and teapot mixed up, and so (without the intent to parody) has the editor who wrote the above. 172.70.160.135 05:49, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Agree, we make tea in a mug using water from a kettle. I'd be furious if an American made tea in my kettle, how will I then make up my instant Nescafe? Kev (talk) 18:28, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I don't think the section on 'Boiling the water in a pot' refers to a teapot - I think it means boiling the water in a pot on the hob, and then making tea with it (in a pot/mug). 172.69.195.27 07:53, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I agree, but I also think there's a language issue with the use of pot vs. pan that makes things more confusing. I think there are several types of cookware that Americans call pot and British call pan. So British would not say they boil water in a pot but rather in a saucepan (if there's no kettle available of course). Mtcv (talk) 09:03, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I (as Brit) am uncommon in using an electric filter coffee machine to make tea (two bags in what is supposed to be the coffee filter). Set up, press the button and come back to a not jug of fresh tea which is not stewed. If later, the hot plate has shut off and it is cold, you can zap it in a mug in the microwave. RIIW - Ponder it (talk) 08:11, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

As another brit, what? I do not understand the mechanics of this, please elaborate. Additionally, my understanding is that the water would be *briefly acquainted* with the tea, thus would be a poor facsimile of "tea" and would rather be closer to something the americans would attempt. 141.101.99.126 11:46, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I did say 'uncommon' but Kenwood made a coffee/tea machine to do this. It sounds like it shouldn't work, but 167 below has the basics right. RIIW - Ponder it (talk) 09:13, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

I'm guessing the water would drip on to the teabags, then soak all the way through them and drip out into the jug, without allowing sufficient to accumulate that it would run straight out without passing fully through the bag. It's an intriguing idea. But most definitely wrong.172.70.85.239 17:15, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Your guess is right. It works because the (finely cut) leaves are exposed to boiling hot water for a few minutes, you wouldn't drink any before you have half a jug and that is quite 'bright'. Better than a teabag in a mug! Want it stronger, use more bags. Big advantage - you set it up, press button, come back in 5 to 25 minutes and your tea is waiting, including a second mug, not and not stewed. Wrong - but works so right. RIIW - Ponder it (talk) 09:13, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

Thanks, Technology Connections! 141.101.109.167 09:51, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

You Westerners have literally no idea how to make proper, good tea! SMH TPS (talk) 13:00, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

As a Brit who grew up in sight of the Yorkshire Tea factory – and worked there on occasion – and having travelled very widely around the world – including in the US – I feel I'm supposed to have an opinion. However, I have never encountered the microwaving of water as mentioned here, and I would not object to it as supposedly problematic for tea-quality reasons. I'd object for reasons of common sense. What mystifies me is the idea that kettles are tea-specific. They are for heating water, not making tea. Coffee uses hot water. Pasta, rice and potatoes use hot water. Peas, carrots, cabbage, sweetcorn...

Baking bread often involves a pan of steaming water in the oven.

"But I can boil water in a pan for cooking pasta or vegetables."

Yes, but you'll be waiting a l-o-o-o-ng time. I'll heat my water in the kettle, pour it into the now-hot pan, cook my pasta, and I'll be eating before your water is boiling.

A kettle is not a tea-making item any more than a frying pan is an omelette-making item; tea is simply one of the things you can make with water from a kettle. Hot water is a basic civilised human commodity, predating recorded history. That we should live in a mechanised world, and the Consumer Nation doesn't have water-boiling appliances as standard (saying instead "I don't have a kettle because I don't drink tea") is ludicrous.

Using a microwave rather than buying a kettle is a bit like not buying a hammer for driving in nails because you've got a big pair of pliers that will do. Sure, they're heavy lumps of metal than live in your toolbag, but they're not the right thing.

The Brits, incidentally, are not tea lovers. They are prolific consumers of awful tea that actual tea lovers wouldn't use for cleaning their drains. The most enthusiastic tea enthusiasts I've ever met were from Maryland.

It's all just social ceremony in the UK. Milk first, tea first, must use a saucer, must use a pot...tea is a British religion, not a British drink. Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 14:23, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

How long does it take you to boil water for, let's say enough water for four people's worth of pasta, using an electric kettle? I reckon that's about 4 liters of water? I'm genuinely curious. Now also double the time, because as mentioned in the explanation, American outlets produce half the power of British outlets. And let me not fail to mention that almost all American homes have either special higher power outlets for stoves or gas powered stoves, and frequently have special high-power outlets for microwaves as well. 4 liters of water to boil takes about 5-6 minutes on a low-end American stove, about 3-4 minutes on a gas stove, and about 2 minutes on an induction stove. None of which strikes me as a particularly long time, especially when the most popular varieties of pasta in America all need to be boiled for 8+ minutes. How does this compare to twice the length of time as your electric kettle? Because if your Electric Kettle actually allows you to be eating your pasta before our water has even boiled, that would require your kettle to boil water in around -2min to -6min. And if your electric kettle can time travel, then that is truly an astonishing device. Honestly my takeaway from this is that British Stoves must be apparently heated by a single candle if "boiling water for pasta" is considered to take a "l-o-o-o-ng time". 162.158.126.161 (talk) 21:51, 10 December 2024 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I wonder what the Brits would feel about repurposing a single-cup coffee maker. These days, I usually put a tea bag in a mug and place it in a Keurig machine and run it (without a K-cup, of course) to deliver the hot water. Probably the wrong temperature, but fast and easy and the result is good enough. Shamino (talk) 14:52, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Would any British person care to evaluate my tea making practices? Boil water in electric kettle. Pour water over teabag, allow to steep, remove teabag. Add sugar and ice cubes. RegularSizedGuy (talk) 15:54, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

...well, seems a fairly standard "making one mug of tea for oneself" process. It lacks a milk-adding stage (thus no arguments about whether before or after the water). Removing the teabag at that point probably means it's not going to become a Builders' Brew, which is your choicd. Sugar is ok. And... Waitwhat... Ice Cubes?!? ...can I get back to you on that? 172.70.162.163 17:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I can confirm (by inadvertent experiments conducted on flatmates) that they indeed do not like tea being make in the kettle. What really makes them angry though is making coffee in the teapot. It ruins the taste of the teapot forever apparently. There is also a faction that insists that a teapot should never be washed, and washing it invokes a lesser anger.Gopher (talk) 15:56, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

This is a source of tension in our house, where we are one washer and one non-washer!141.101.98.243 09:45, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

On rare occasions where I don't have a kettle available, I use a microwave oven to boil water for tea. But it doesn't look and taste quite the same, and often leaves an ugly foam at the surface when the tea bag is added. This phenomenon is investigated here: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/22264. So the British might be right... Disclaimer: I'm neither from the UK nor from the US. 172.69.68.126 16:16, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

There is a tumblr thread about the topic of teamaking in microwaves, kettles, etc. Funnily enough it showed up in my Instagram reels feed just a few hours before this comic was posted. I was thinking perhaps Randall saw it too and was inspired by it? Both of them have to deal with the different ways of making tea and how "absurd" or "unconventional" (etc.) they are. Even if Randall didn't have it in mind, it's certainly a funny little coincidence. Pie Guy (talk) 16:36, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I'm guessing my occasional summertime practice of filling a gallon jar with water and lots of tea bags, setting it on the back porch in the sun for a few hours until the water turns dark brown, then putting the whole thing in the refrigerator and later drinking it over ice would be toward the more angry end of the spectrum.172.70.126.204 16:39, 10 December 2024 (UTC)Pat

I think the "in the sun for a few hours" part might just be too incomprehensible to most of us, here in Britain. If we have a few hours of sun (and we're not abroad and deliberately sunburning ourselves on the beach/beside the pool in our week at the Costa Lotta budget-all-inclusivs holiday) then we're either fuming at our workdesks complaining about the louts stripping down to their shirtsleeves and splashing in the town-centre fountains or we're on our lunch-break and we are the louts stripping down to our shirtsleeves and splashing in the town-centre fountains. In neither case would sun-stewed tea be a priority. 172.70.162.163 17:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Perhaps it's worth to mention how dangerous it is to boil water in a microwave. https://tastecooking.com/dangerous-microwave-water/ Mestafais (talk) 15:22, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

I have a >5 inch burn scar on my forearm, to arrest to that. ProphetZarquon (talk) 14:21, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

I know most Brits would consider it criminal, but I didn't realise you could actually be arrested for it.141.101.98.243 09:47, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

There are several comics with unmarked scales. It would be interesting if the descriptions started using pixels to point where each mark is along the line. As a rough estimate, the four points mentioned here are at X-values: 90px, 115px, 345px, and 645px, indicating that the pot method is 10% as infuriating as the chalice method - or that making tea in a pot ten times would be equally as infuriating as making it once in a chalice (at least, assuming the kettle method causes zero furons. I know of hedons and dolors. I guess 'furons' are a unit of fury, right? 172.70.46.236 16:11, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Interesting to see the interest in editing this. Had a quick check of the last ten comics, looking at the number of edits made in the first 14 hours (the exact time this page has been around, as of me starting the check) and in total, and extrapolated to edits/day (in the case of total edits, both just to the latest edit and right up to 'now'). Thought it'd be interesting to give you my results (assuming I tallied/etc correctly)...

• 3022 - 14hr: 61 (105/day); Total: 61 (105/day...)
• 3021 - 14hr: 23 (39/day); Total: 39 (11/day -> 10/day)
• 3020 - 14hr: 22 (38/day); Total: 36 (10/day -> 6/day)
• 3019 - 14hr: 28 (48/day); Total: 54 (17/day -> 7/day)
• 3018 - 14hr: 14 (24/day); Total: 48 (4/day -> 4/day)
• 3017 - 14hr: 29 (50/day); Total: 33 (32/day -> 3/day)
• 3016 - 14hr: 28 (48/day); Total: 46 (4/day -> 3/day)
• 3015 - 14hr: 20 (32/day); Total: 83 (5/day -> 5/day)
• 3014 - 14hr: 40 (69/day); Total: 66 (16/day -> 3/day)
• 3013 - 14hr: 36 (61/day); Total: 68 (3/day -> 3/day)

...of course, the first 14 hours probably biases to British readers/editors, and it was too fiddly to add up |bytes changed per edit| as a more useful metric than mere number of pokes. But quite a bit of interest we already have here. More edits in fourteen hours than any other article less than fourteen (indeed, 17!) days old... ;) Seems to have really hit a mark, this subject! 172.69.195.201 19:21, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

This one is super weird. I may be weirdness incarnate... but... An anonymous Gravity Falls expert (talk) 19:33, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Well obviously. I mean this one really matters!141.101.98.23 08:52, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

I would argue that the more pessimistic interpretation of the two low-end options makes sense, rather than the more generous versions offered in the current explanation. I think the first one does literally mean making tea in the kettle, and the second one does mean boiling water in a teapot. Making tea *using* a kettle isn't anything to get mad about, it's the default practice. That should put it at the zero point of the line, but it isn't, it's to the right. On the other hand, obviously making tea *in* the kettle would incite a modest amount of rage (on the scale of zero to microwaving a mug), and it makes sense that boiling water in a teapot would incite about 50% more, as shown.172.69.134.160 19:51, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

An American making tea in the correct way by boiling water in the kettle and then pouring that into a teapot with the tea would still probably conspire to make it badly and make the Brit angry. And Brits really do get quite upset about the idea of tea made with water boiled in a stovetop pan.141.101.98.23 08:55, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

There is a standard for making tea, ISO 3103: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103, and apparently from the Royal Society of Chemistry. And, of course, it must be really hot for in infinite improbability drive to work properly. Lordpishky (talk) 20:24, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

All this blather and not one bit about that quintessential Kiwi staple, gumboot tea. Boil the kettle (about the size of a Dutch oven), throw in handfuls of leaf black tea, and let it sit until consumed. Reheat as needed. One sip, and the source of the Commonwealth aversion to the insane Yankee habit of drinking tea black is immediately apparent. 172.70.123.8 20:31, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

So, I have a Quooker that boils my water. Add tea (leaves)... done. But *don't* add milk, please.... spoil... -- Palmpje (talk) 20:50, 10 December 2024 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Ultimately, the real difference comes down to convenience: In the USA, the standard voltage for electric appliances (including an electric kettle) is 120 volts, while it is twice that (240 volts in practice, though nominally 230V) in the UK. Since the amperage for an electric kettle is the the same in both countries (15 amps), this means that an equivalent kettle in the UK has twice the power (3.2kw versus 1.6kw), and can heat the water in a fraction of the time. Meanwhile, a standard microwave has a similar power in both countries (from 700 to 1000 watts), for reasons unrelated to the supply voltage it is equipped to use. Therefore, heating a small cup in a microwave might take a few moments longer than a kettle in the USA, but is many times slower to wait for compared to using an electric kettle in the UK. Electric kettles are a bit faster in the UK due to the voltage difference, but it's not that much and I highly doubt speed is the main concern here. The main 'convenience' difference between boiling water in a kettle vs a microwave is quantity: Brits usually don't just make one cup/mug of tea! On the rare occasion Americans drink tea, it's more often just the one person drinking one cup, making a microwave a convenient choice.162.158.233.90 21:40, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

Add in some salt! 42.book.addict^{Talk to me!} 21:44, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

It's not about voltage. They use different gauge heater wire to get the Watts wanted/allowed.

The classic UK plug is nominal 13 Amps. (The circuits may be nominal 16A but there is now better insulation than in 1949.) At 230 Volts that would be 3KW (near enuff). That will be the "legal numbers". At 240V it may be 3,250W true. OTOH a 10V sag might be expected in all but the poshest wall-wiring.

amazon.co.uk sells kettles nearly all rated 3KW. Exceptions are Greepas at 1800W ("However, some customers have reported that it's very slow to boil"); also Philips 2200W, Daewoo 1400W, and OLEGA 1500W 'Fast Boiling'.

OTOH!!

On Amazon US site nearly all kettles are 1500W, a few lower like 1100W. At assumed 120V 1500W is 12.5Amps. 15Amp circuits are still common in older houses (despite changes in 1960s) but we supposed to de-rate for 'long-running' (not clearly specified in old code) so 12 Amps is in a ballpark.

Note that all US kettles are lower power than all but the tamest UK kettles. Essentially half power.

And IIRC, the 13/16A rating which allows super-power kettles in the UK was not for tea but for "electric fire", room heat. In post-War rebuilding, smokey coal was already depreciated in cities, steam plumbing and chimneys are expensive. Copper wire is costly too, but you "have" to have electric, and low-cost plans like ring-main were investigated. PRR (talk) 22:44, 10 December 2024 (UTC)

"accept that tea-appropriate boiling water can be obtained directly from the sink's plumbing" - unless it comes out literally at boiling temperature, it isn't tea appropriate. I live in France now, and order catering bags of tea from Amazon because French tea is dismally awful, not helped at all by this fairly widespread belief that black tea steeps at 60C. When I share tea bags with friends, I have to keep reminding them, boiling! Boiling! So, see, there are worse things than using a microwave to heat the water... 172.71.126.208 06:00, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

Not boiling - OFF boiling. Higher than 60C, yes, but if you put actually boiling water straight on to the tea (or worse, boil the water with the tea in it), that's at least as bad. (And how far off the boil exactly depends on the type of tea.) 141.101.98.22 09:00, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

What's up with the "We want to ensure[sic] the good people of the U.K"? I really can't see the US Embassy insuring them for any amount, so what gives? Ryden (talk) 12:27, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

Came here to make the same note. “Ensure” is not misspelled, why is it marked with “[sic]”? Dúthomhas (talk) 12:40, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

It's the wrong word entirely for the longer sentence. They perhaps wished to assure the good people, etc... "Ensure" means to "check and fix" something, in the way this is connected to "the good people" (implying that they would be changed to deal with any discrepancy of expectations), but this reading also goes wrong by the "that".

In the sense of making a pledge (probably the actual intent), the structure is all wrong and probably was hastily reworded from a different narrative path, but left half-and-half and not making sense. My most minimal rewording for this would be "We want to ensure to the good people of the U.K. that ...", but it still reads very awkwardly. Perhaps it always made more sense to the average 'Merkin (c.f. "write me" instead of "write to me"), but I still would have written "assure" (as attempt to be comforting) or "pledge to" (for a more fervent sincerity of positive action).

And to "insure" (for British English) is different yet again. While not working at all in the full sentence, it would start to suggest the actual possibility of such wrongness happening, but with the promise of monetary (or other) compensation if it does. 141.101.98.149 15:43, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

Question: Does the obsession with tea apply to all of Britain equally? E.g. are the Scottish just as stereotypicly known for loving tea as the English? This comic immediately brings Arthur Dent to my mind, and he's Very English Indeed. ("A liquid almost but not quite entirely unlike tea" is missing somewhere in the left third of the comic. :) --an intrigued German 172.71.148.103 14:35, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

The four nations probably have had a similar outlook, but everyone may have had different social reasons. Tea-totalling perhaps was the initial driver in the more methodist corners, to get working people not to drink too much beer/cider/gin. The high social status version of regency ladies. It then sort of met in the middle by the time of the tea-ladies trolleying around refreshments to boardrooms and factory floors alike, in the same building.

For WW2, the British government's demand for tea supplies was at least as important as ammunition. All British tanks apparently had (and continue to have) a hot-water boiler in the crew comparatment (not just for tea, but, probably the main thing at times). Official worries about tea lasted beyond that era.

Generalising for everyone now is probably wrong, but visiting elderly relatives all over the UK, I'd always be passed a cup of tea (and a plate of cakes, or biscuits, placed temptingly close at hand). A pity that I never really liked tea (the cakes/biscuits are a bonus and a mitigating factor, but politeness demands that I throttle back my desires in that direction). 141.101.98.149 15:43, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

If we're talking about the British Isles, it's probably actually the Irish who take the crown for the highest concentration of tea in the bloodstream, even though the stereotype is most commonly associated with the English / the UK.141.101.98.242 09:54, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

Boy, they really get mad when you microwave the Chalice. ProphetZarquon (talk) 14:18, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

I think putting metal in the microwave is probably frowned upon worldwide. (Unless you're an ex-Navy Seal and cook who has found your ship taken over by mercenaries with a mad plan. Then go ahead.) 162.158.74.119 16:07, 11 December 2024 (UTC)

I find that Brits really hate it when you bring up the concept of sweet tea, during the summer my family would fill up a jug with water add some tea bags then leave it on the porch over night. Resign (talk) 07:35, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

Though in my experience a fair number who actually *try* sweet tea like it. It's really a whole different beverage, and stands on its own when not considered in comparison to what tea is "supposed" to be. Like comparing a latte to straight espresso. 172.69.135.117 20:04, 16 December 2024 (UTC)

Former Texas resident weighing in on "Sweet Tea" - I was surprised to learn when arriving in the Lone Star state that there is a wrong way to make sweet tea. Apparently, adding the sugar/honey after icing it down is heresy. If the sugar is added while the water is still near boiling it partially caramelizes (Maillard reaction), improving the flavor. For food safety this shouldn't be done with the backporch-in-the-sun method, but in all other cases my tea-drinking acquaintances insisted on the proper sweeting process. 172.70.111.90 18:31, 17 December 2024 (UTC)

This is the most comprehensively explained comic in a while 😂 I guess there are a lot of passionate tea-makers around here. As a non-tea-drinker living in a Commonwealth country, I have definitely heard the outrageous stereotype that Americans microwave their water. Definitely practical when you don't own a kettle, but slow when brewing for a group. Alcatraz ii (talk) 08:07, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

Would the small metal piece that sticks together the label of the teabag at the end of the string be an issue when microwaved (with the water or seperately)? Or is too small for that? (I know not all teabags have that, especially british "black tea" often comes in packages without string, but my usual tea does have it...) --Lupo (talk) 08:59, 12 December 2024 (UTC)

I feel the need to point out that there are kettles that are designed to brew the tea directly. I have a rather nice one, from Brevile, with a metal basket that sits on a magnetic rail, so it can automatically lower it self when the water hits the right temperature and then promptly remove itself after the tea's done steeping. Then again, I'd argue the brits are the ones brewing their tea wrong, what with all being finely chopped and shoved into tiny bags.--172.70.230.94 01:45, 13 December 2024 (UTC)

Now imagine how the Chinese and Japanese feel, for whom the British are drinking the discarded waste. 162.158.14.224 11:27, 15 December 2024 (UTC)

Probably "it doesn't matter how they prepare it, garbage is garbage" 172.69.135.117 20:04, 16 December 2024 (UTC)